Bloody Roses
by MadeNew
Summary: Drabbles and one-shots. All tragedies. Various character pairings and deaths. Some AU. Number Five: Kikyo writes a letter and makes a decision...
1. The Picture

The Picture

**Bloody Roses**

**The Picture**

_Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha. This was originally another story with original characters of my creation, but worked very well with InuYasha._

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"I'm sorry," really doesn't heal. He should have learned that a long time ago, along with the lesson that happiness could never really last. And the most haunting thing, he supposes, was the knowledge that it was all his fault.

The door is unlocked. Her family always leaves it open for him, even now, after she's gone. The house is deathly silent, reminding him that she will never return. Kagome just wasn't a quiet person by nature. She had always had that bursting, enthusiastic tone to her personality. There was always music blaring, or someone shouting, or even just her singing. Silence didn't sit well with her.

She could never live in a place this quiet.

InuYasha sets his gift – wrapped in plain brown paper – on the couch and slowly begins to pace the room, knowing full well it was likely to be the last time he will set foot in the house. He walks up to the island counter, running his hand over the layer of dust on top of the small red television. He smirks. It was so like her to do that, and so rare to see an inch of dust on any TV.

His eyes travel slowly onto the pictures beside it. Skiing…he remembers her telling him about that…how often she'd fallen! And then an old black, white, and grey one ("Try not to see the world in black, white, and shades of grey," she so often said, "but notice the bright vividness of life."). He doesn't know the people in that photo.

More family. His fingers trace the birthday card Kikyo had so carefully crafted for her not a week before. It is a bright, vivid blue and shimmering silver – the colors of her heart, he realizes. Why? Why did she have to go?

And, as if by magic, the last picture is of them. All six of them. Kagome is standing the center, short and tanned, smiling boldly at the camera. She is dressed brightly, all purples and blues. Sesshomaru is on one side of her, his silver hair seeming to tickle her cheek, with his arm slung lazily over her shoulders. On her other side is Sango, smiling her gentle smile, leaning into Kagome. Miroku is, naturally, behind her, a bright red handprint on his face. Kikyo is beside his brother and him, laughing at something he might have said.

They were all so happy. Why? Why did he have to survive?

A necklace spills across Kagome's throat; a crystal heart, sparkling with vibrant colors. He remembers that necklace. Kikyo and Sango wore theirs, too, but they were beneath the soft cotton of their shirts.

InuYasha fingers the bandanna on his wrist; there is a similar iridescent heart sewn into the fabric by the clasp. He frowns, wishing that he had something more of the memory. But no, everyone perished in that terrible fire – everyone except him, because he had run out to get pizza.

Only Kikyo's small heart necklace had survived. She had thrown it out the window, desperate to keep it pure and uncovered by ash.

InuYasha sighs.

Loss. It is nothing new to him, nothing he hasn't been forced to endure in the past. But that does not ease the pain of knowing they are lost to him forever.

Kagome, so full of life.

Kikyo, so gentle and sweet.

Sango, so strong and loving.

Miroku, wise and foolish all at once.

Sesshomaru, fierce and cocky.

All gone.

Forever.

And that's when he knows. He must follow. There isn't really a choice, no conscious decision. It simply must be. He opens his own gift, staring at it. There, nestled in the plain wrappings, is a small box. He lifts the lid. Five separate locks of hair curl together in a silky pile. He remembers that day; it was Kagome's idea, and he refused to let them near him with scissors.

Now, he takes his pocket knife, sawing off a jagged silver strip and dropping it in.

Then he leaves, the box still on the couch.

_Bang._

He is gone.

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_A/N: Yes, that was quite awful. It hasn't undergone much editing, and I know full well it is very poorly done. Still, I'm curious to see what people think. I'm fairly bad at writing tragedies, hmm? All the same, I've written a fair few of them. I may add some more to this story later, but they will be disconnected one-shots, updated when an idea strikes me. Opinions?_

_REVIEW!!_

_-MadeNew_


	2. Trapped

**Trapped**

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I wanted nothing to do with you, but you kept turning up. You hated me with everything you had, but I was still in your life. It wasn't a choice. It wasn't your decision, or mine. But still, we heap the blame on each other because it hurts too much to keep it ourselves.

Oh, if only we hadn't ever met! If only my parents had chosen another house. If only you could have seen past my lies – if only I hadn't uttered them!

But I had no choice – or so that's what I believe. You never let on, but neither did I. How could I have when I didn't even recognize it? I didn't want you. I hated being anywhere near you.

Then you kissed her, and my world fell apart.

I felt disbelief, betrayal. And all the time, I knew it was irrational. But I died, all the same, and you killed me.

You knew it, too. You turned and saw me there. You whispered my name and reached for me. She touched your shoulder, confused, and fled.

"Don't touch me!" I spat, ripping away from you. _I love you. How could you?_ I could not help voicing this thought out loud: "How could you?"

"How could I have known?" you retorted, your beautiful eyes flashing with anger.

"I don't know," I whispered, pulling away from you and fleeing down the halls. "Don't follow me."

You didn't.

I was far too late in realizing the truth: I was in love with you when you wanted her. The worst of it was, I couldn't even deny your obvious reasons for being in love with her, my best friend. She was beautiful, gentle, athletic, kind. She was everything I was not, and she never lied to you.

Every moment I was around you, every gesture, every sentence, every word, every movement, every time I flinched, I lied. I lied because I loved you, and though I didn't know it, I would always love you, and I was terrified of rejection. I couldn't live without you, even though I hated you.

You sent notes. The flowers – shredded. The words – destroyed. The love – denied. I denied you because I loved you and because I was afraid.

I am not proud of it.

You walked up to me and there was nowhere to go. That was smart. You knew me, knew where I would be, and used it. You walked forward, touched my face, and kissed me.

I kissed you back. For a moment – one moment – I loved you, and you loved me, and nothing else was real but you. For a second, there was love and happiness, and perhaps the world was not so cruel.

(Know that I still love you.)

Then you pulled away, sighing my name.

I knew before you told me. "Goodbye," I murmured. "I love you."

"I love you, too," you promised. "I always will." Neither of us spoke the if only pounding in our hearts. You just turned, left. Forever. And I stayed, a memory, a star that has died without a chance to leave its mark on the world.

But there was nothing else to be done. You belonged with her, in her world, and neither of us could bear to harm her. She means too much to us. You had to marry her. I didn't come to the wedding. You understood, consoled her. She needed you.

But so do I.

I can never take you away from her. That is far too selfish, even for me. How can I claim you when the only words we ever spoke were those of utter hatred?

But neither can I live without you. I am trapped.

So, as I write these words, I raise the silvery knife and press it against my skin, cool relief. Your name throbs inside of me. You will find this note. Will it still hurt, after all this time? Or am I only a dim, half-forgotten memory only visited in the deepest of dreams?

I say goodbye, my only love.

Do not lie to her.

I was the liar and the one to be lied to.

But now I am gone, what will you do?

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_A/N: There. I hope this was somewhat better. I'm going to leave it up to you to decide who's POV. Think what you like…_

…_But review._

_-MadeNew _


	3. Markers

Click

**Markers**

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_Click._

An acorn lands, light and hard, on the grey stone marker. The god tree's great branches lean far over, shading only the grave now. Once, they were home to a young boy, once a resting place for a priestess. Then, when they were gone, it was a shelter to all animals large and small. Now, it once again guards the boy…

_Click._

The villagers that knew the boy have died. The young girl is gone forever, though the tree does not know how. Their companions are scattered and lost. But the tree remembers…

_Click._

He remembers the boy's last visit to him. His silver hair was stained with red, his kimono turned dark bronze with stains. He fell at the tree's roots rather than settling in the limbs as the tree had become accustomed to. And this time, he was not alone.

_Click._

The girl came, with tears in her eyes and clean white bandages in her hands, to help him. She was too late. The boy did not push her away, and she knew that he was dying. Still, the girl took his head on her lap, diamond droplets tracking her cheeks, and whispered that he would be okay.

_Click._

The boy told her that of course he would. He was hanyou, wasn't he? He was tough. She just smiled. The tree felt her sadness when she whispered, "I love you." He remembers the anguish in the boy's eyes when he replied, "I love you, too."

_Click._

And the girl kept talking to him. But he gave no response.

_Click._

They lowered the boy into a hole where he had died. The soil was still stained with his blood. This tree was his safe-house in life, so also in death. And so the tree cradles him in its roots, a promise of protection.

_Click._

The tree sees the girl come, now. He wonders. She is older. The landscape has changed. But the boy still resides in his clutches, at peace. She leans against the tree and cries. "InuYasha," she whispers.

_Click._

She promises to join him someday.

_Click._

Now when the acorns fall, they land on two markers. The boy and the girl, together at last, beneath the god tree.

_Click._

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_A/N: This just came to mind and I wrote it. I really hope it made sense. I'm sorry if it didn't. Thanks for the reviews! I appreciate it so much. :)_

_Review again, please…_

_-MadeNew_


	4. The Unknown

You do not know me

**The Unknown**

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_You do not know me._

Her feet pound on the ground as she races away, branches tearing at her hair, tears staining her cheeks.

_You never knew me._

One foot snags on a root. Her arms rotate comically, hands grasping at tree limbs, but her body betrays her. The weakened miko tumbles down the steep hill.

_You lied to me! I never knew you, either._

There is a sickening crack as she lands, one leg bent at an awkward angle beneath her. With a slick crunch, a branch slides through her side. Blood pools around her, red and sticky, staining the white cloth of her shirt.

_I loved you. I was attracted to the unknown._

A glistening sheet of tears spreads over her eyes. She gazes at things unseen. A single teardrop slips down her cheek. Her rosebud lips move as though she is trying to speak.

_I love you so much. I'm sorry._

Her blue-grey orbs slowly begin draining of life. The heaving of her chest slows. A crimson bubble bursts at the corner of her mouth.

_If I could have one wish, it would be for your happiness. I love the unknown, InuYasha._

A boy arrives, flashing silver and red. "Kagome!" His golden eyes light upon her wounded, empty body. "No… You can't leave me…"

_Too late…_

Two final words escape her throat: "The unknown." Her head falls back, raven locks of hair tainted by scarlet.

_Goodbye. _

"NO!" The boy wraps his arms around her. "No! No, please…"

_Yes._

His hair is tinted with the bronze of her blood as his eyes glow red. She has left him forever, and taken his sanity with her. The lust to kill finally consumes him. He is lost.

_You never knew me._

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_A/N: Wow. That one was extremely depressing, more so than my others, I think. I'm sorry about the poor quality of these. Thank you, my reviewers, for all your kind words!_

_If you like these (for some unknown – ha-ha – reason), I'd appreciate it if you checked out another one of my stories, _Cursed_. It's a drabble. Hope you enjoy!_

_-MadeNew_


	5. Little Sister

_Disclaimer: I do not own InuYasha._

_Warning: Alternate Universe_

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Little Sister

_MadeNew_

Kagome,

I know it hurts you. Please don't think this is an accusation; I forgive you. I know you don't want to love him. I see it in your tormented expression and bleeding soul that peeps through those red-rimmed eyes. You hate it so much, but you can't stop.

Worse, you can't even fight for him. Not against me, your big sister; not when you can see how happy I make him. His smile at me carves out a hole in your heart. Maybe, you think, it will fade to a scar, but it won't, little sister. Maybe you'll struggle like this forever.

He loves me, you know. He even loves talking about me, especially to you. You're such a good listener. It must feel like fire against your skin, like swallowing hot coals to smile and tell him he's a lucky guy. You wish I'd burn in hell sometimes.

That's okay. Every once in a while, I wish that, too. Besides, you don't really want that, because I make him happy, and really, what else _can_ you possibly want? Your heart shatters into fragments each time you realize it: You hope we're happy forever because you never, ever want him to hurt. You only want him to smile like that forever, even if he doesn't smile at you.

He does, though. Don't you see it? My husband smiles at you all the time.

That first time we had a fight, you fixed it. You tried to be the mediator, and when that didn't work, you flat-out interfered, little sister. You screamed at him to be _happy_. You're the one who sent him running back to me with roses in his hands. You helped him pick out the ring and made sure his tux fit correctly. Every time, he missed the tears in your eyes and broken heart in the slippery syllables of congratulations.

You were my maid of honor in the wedding. You wanted to die – I could see that in your eyes, little sister – but you didn't. You chose to live for him. He needs you. You chose to live in pain for him to be happy.

This is how I know that you're in love with him.

Yes, I know lots of things you don't know, little sister. For one, I know you two have always just been one step off from _something more _since high school.

You see, when I borrowed your clothes and wore my hair like yours, it was an experiment. It drove me crazy, those t-shirts that didn't fit quite right, the way my hair frizzed out instead of being kept neatly in pins. I even left things lying around the way you do, just to see how he would react.

And guess what, little sister? He was happier.

Sometimes he stares at that picture of you on the table. You're hanging upside down from a tree, hair bursting from its braid in little curls, just like always. Your eyes are red with laughter. You look so silly, but he stares at you like heaven come to earth.

This is how I know that he's in love with you, too.

The one thing both of you forget, as you pine silently after each other, is that I love him, too. I didn't date him to hurt you; I didn't marry him to make it worse. I love him, and I thought that maybe, with time, he'd love me the way he loves you, little sister. I know better now. I'm sorry.

Of course, I will never tell you any of this. The pills are ready, along with a nice, little note explaining my death as an inability to live with my eating disorder. Eating disorder, right. I am, though, underweight, and so neither of you will question that explanation. You won't want to question it. I forgive you for that, little sister. The note is signed, 'your loving Beth.' I wonder which of you will find me first.

You chose to live for him, little sister. I choose to die for both of you.

All that remains, now, is to let this page hit the fire. Goodbye, my darlings. Perhaps I will see you in heaven someday.

Yours,

_Kikyo_

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_A/N: Yes, I'm still alive. I haven't been on this site in years, but as soon I set foot here, I was pulled in again. Any questions about the future of my other stories, let me know either in a review or a message._

_This letter is actually an original work of mine, but while rereading it (having just watched several episodes of a certain anime), I realized how well it could work with the characters. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it._

_xx_

_MadeNew_


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